February 21, 2018

The Junque Journal is one of my FAVOURITE elements of the Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Line! It is versatile and a great place to store memories! Take a look at how Mandy is getting her Junque Journal ready to fill up with some of her favourite memories...

Hey friends!

Mandy with you today, and I’m happy to be back here sharing a new project with you! This week we are focusing on the Junque Journals, and I had so much fun adding some mixed media and embellishments to the front of my journal! I’ve been deciding on what to use my journal for, and I’m thinking that I’ll use this one as a mini album. My eldest two kids have just gone back to school after 7 weeks of school holidays, and I thought it would be fun to use my Junque Journal to document all of the fun things that we did over the summer! The beauty of these journals though, is that you can use them however you like!

Here’s a look at what I did on the cover of my Junque Journal…

I’m going to show you how I created the mixed media background for my cover by giving you a step-by-step tutorial. It was a super easy and fun, so maybe you can give it a try too!

1) Add a strip of washi tape down the edge of the spine so that you don’t have to worry about your mixed media getting on the fabric spine cover. Next, cover the entire cover with white gesso. This will give you a good base for adding your mixed media onto.

2) Choose three colours of acrylic paint – I used Juicy Pear, Blue Hawaiian, and Sugared Strawberry (these are all part of set 3 of the Color Pop Paints). Next paint the cover of your journal with one of the lighter colours from the ones that you’ve chosen. I let mine dry and then gave it a second coat, to build up the vibrancy of the colour a bit more.

3) Once the first colour is dry, apply a second colour of paint through a stencil on the bottom right hand corner of the cover and the top left hand corner. I used the Blue Hawaiian paint and one of Vicki’s new stencils.

4) Next choose another stencil that has a smaller pattern than the first one, and apply your third colour of paint through this stencil. I chose the Sugared Strawberry as my third colour because I wanted it to contrast with the cooler colours that I’d used for the first two layers. I think this really helps the background to ‘pop’! I also mixed this paint with the Vicki Boutin Iridescent Glaze to make it a bit thicker and give it some sparkle! I love how this makes it look more dimensional when applied through the stencil, and it looks so pretty and shimmery!!

5) The last thing that I did on the background was splatter some watered down black acrylic paint. This adds some more contrast, and also adds to the messy factor!

Here are some closeups of the finished cover so that you can see all of the details…

I created those flowers by stamping onto the scraps of a background that I had left over from cutting a title for a previous layout! So make sure you don’t throw away your scraps, because you can use them to create your own die cuts like this!

I used one of the phrases from the ‘All the Good Things’ Foam Thickers pack as a title, and I also added a sticker that says ‘Let the Good Times Roll’. These were the perfect phrases for this mini book!

Underneath the title I created a little cluster using one the cute birds from the ephemera pack, and a few more of my die cut flowers.

I finished the cover off by adding a couple of the enamel dots from the Finishing Embellishments pack, and a strip of thin washi tape down the edge of the spine.

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope that you’ve been inspired to play with your Junque Journal too!

Here’s a complete list of the Vicki Boutin products that I used to create this…

Junque Journal

Gesso

Color Pop Acrylic Paint – Set 3

Iridescent Glaze

Stencils

Stamps & Dies – Set 2

Mister Bottles

Cardstock Stickers – Words

Thickers – Phrase/Glitter Foam

Cardstock Die-Cuts – Icons

Self-Adhesive Finishing Embellishments

Washi Tape

Mandy x

Thanks so much Mandy! I love all of the steps and the beautiful cover you created! Can't wait to see what goes inside!!!

February 20, 2018

Happy Tuesday!!!! I hope my Canadian friends had a wonderful Family Day and my American friends enjoyed President's Day!!! Super excited to share this beautiful page from Jana. Love the versatility of the VB Watercolor Stickers! Take a look...

Hi and hello, I am so happy to share a new Layout with you. Today’s page is all about meeting creative people and using watercolor stickers combined with Art Crayons! YAY!

I started with the white Foundation Paper and my favorite Art Crayons! I picked some colors from Set 1 and Set 2… scribbled the Art Crayons on some plastic and added Water. I really love to have the Art Crayons watered down so that I can use them like Watercolors. I “kissed” the paper with the plastic. I wanted to have three layers of different colors so, get sure every layer is dry, otherwise you´ll get a ugly mix of beautiful colors… but this is not a big deal, I don’t used a lot of water so the drying time is not long.

Here you can see the awesome colors behind the Elements… I also added some splatters! The watercolor stickers are another favorite from me. Today I wanted to use some dark blue and purple for the flowers, because of the blue paper I’ve picked for my title.

In the photos you can see me and some lovely ladies I’ve met on the CreativeWorld back in January. It is one of the best things in the world to meet people you´re only knowing from the social medias. You can talk about new trends, new tools and what's in store. At a fair, it's the most beautiful thing besides all the other things that you can see and admire.

I was at the Booth from We R Memory Keepers/American Crafts and had the best of time! I had the chance to play with some Vicki Boutin Goodies and show the visitors how to use them or what you can do with them in general. Just awesome and so much fun… of course! But let´s talk about the Layout again. I used a lot of bright colors but worked with B/W pictures and a few touches of black here and there.

The tangled Thread behind the elements is just for another pop of color or a touch of black. I really LOVE how that looks and you can never go wrong with some thread on your projects!

Some gold glitter foam words for the second part of my title… labels, number stickers and brush lettering names and my page is complete. I am really happy about how it turned out. The colors – oh my, I am in LOVE!

Here is a little process Video for you to watch, hope you´ll like it - Jana's Video

February 16, 2018

Hi Friends!!! Take a look at how Nathalie set up her Junque Journal. I can't wait to see what is coming at she fills this baby up with "arte"!!! Beautiful job!!!!

Hi there!

Nathalie with you today bringing you a look at one of my newer color adventures of 2018: My Junque Journal.

I have always been curious about these little gems, and now that I get to work with them, I can say they can quickly become very addicting. I want to show you what I am doing to my Art Junque Journal using Vicki’s All The Good Things collection and mediums.

I decoupaged the cover of the journal using acrylic matte gel, and a piece of paper from the 12x12 All the Good Things collection paper pad. Once the medium had dried, a bit of gesso was added with a brush as to create a soft shadow/haze on the page.

Next, it was time to embellish -since the background reminded me of a graffiti wall- I chose to add some colour using the butterfly stencil, the stencil brushes and some art crayons. Colors were placed in order as to form a sort of rainbow; this took no time as application of color with the brushes is so easy and rapid. To finish, a bit of gold glaze was added through the scribbled lines stencil, and then the word “ARTE” (Art in Spanish) was added to complete the look.

But since we are talking about covers, I also went ahead and created the cover page of my journal. It all started as a few lines of the script stamp were added to the bottom corner of the page. To create a distress look to the page, a bit of gesso was added so that it created a few groves on the page.

The inspiration for the colors was a sunset, so a few lines of Art crayons were scribbled on the page; a baby wipe was used to diffuse the color on the page. The little grooves of gesso are what create those deeper shaded areas in the page.

To maximize the color in this page, the entire page was sealed with Acrylic matte gel, and a thick brush (this will add more texture to the page). Then the art crayon process was repeated once again. To finish the page, a few Sunburst circles were added using gold ink, followed by a sentiment and a few butterflies.

I love how this page came together! And I can easily say this little journal may be one of my newest addictions. Here is a more in depth look of how this page came together:

I hope you are all inspired to check out the amazing All The Good Things collection. The papers are colorful, and all the mediums are a dream to work with. Let me know if you have any questions on how this came together.

February 14, 2018

I am IN LOVE with the subtle "mixed media" feel on Mandy's layout!!! This is what I am talking about friends! ART FOR EVERYONE!!!! You can add artful techniques to your paper projects in any style, color palette and it can be subtle or FULL ON!!! Take a look at how pretty this approach is...(and those stencil brushes are a game changer!!!!)

Hey friends!

Mandy here with you today to share a multi-photo layout using the Vicki Boutin mixed media products and the ‘All the Good Things’ collection! I had a play with Vicki’s new stencil brushes on this page, and they are AMAZING!!

The colours in the ‘All the Good Things’ collection were perfect for documenting these photos of my youngest daughter on her first day of preschool! She looked so cute with her big back pack on! Here’s the layout that I created…

I started my layout off by applying three different colours of art crayons through the new butterfly stencil using the larger stencil brush. I started with pink at the bottom of the page, fading into purple, and then blue. I tilted the stencil a little each time I changed colours to make it look like the butterflies were floating up the page. I then added some water to the purple art crayon and splattered it onto the page using a small paint brush. This background was so quick and easy to create, and I love the subtle detail that it adds to the layout!

I adhered the photos onto a piece of white cardstock, and then matted them with three patterned papers from the ‘All the Good Things’ collection. The papers I used were… Positive Note (reverse side), Birds of a Feather (reverse side), and Blossom to Awesome (reverse side). I also fussy cut one of the floral clusters out of the Blossom to Awesome patterned paper and tucked it under the top edge of the photo strip. And I added a sticker that says ‘Fun Starts Here’, along the top of the photos as well.

Underneath the right hand side of the photo, I tucked a few of the die cut flowers from the ephemera icons pack. I added some foam tape underneath the leaves to lift them up and give them some extra dimension.

Underneath the bottom edge of the photo strip I tucked a label from the frames pack, and then on top of that I adhered the die cut piece that says ‘Be Fearless’. I added foam tape underneath this as well to once again create some more dimension. I also tucked some leaves from the watercolour sticker pack underneath the bottom edge of the photos. Next I added my title, and the chipboard Thickers from the collection were perfect for this!

I created another little cluster in the bottom right hand corner of the page using a couple more die cuts. The birds in this collection are so cute! You can also see here that I added two strips of patterned paper across the bottom of the page, which helps to ground the layout.

I finished the layout off with some typed journaling and a few enamel dots from the Finishing Embellishments pack.

Thanks so much for joining me today!

Here’s a list of all of the Vicki Boutin products that I used on this page…

February 12, 2018

This week is all about VB Junque Journals!!! Love these little babies and all of the accessories that go with them. Great for rminibooks, storage, art journals and practice books!!!

Today Jana is sharing a bunch of ideas she used in her Vicki Boutin Junque Journal!!!

Hi and hello, Jana here with a new Project for the Vicki Boutin Mixed Media Makers. Have you ever used a Junque Journal?! Vicki has one Album in her Collection which is great to start your first ever Junque Journal, like me! I have never made/used one and I have not decided yet which theme I want to focus on in mine. Maybe this will be a random Journal album, some practice sheets for mixed media techniques, brush lettering or some VIP photos and notes. Included in the package is one journal that features a D-ring and has 12 mixed media pages and 4 tabbed dividers.

But let´s start with my Cover first… I used some white Gesso first, stamped with a bubble wrap to get a nice and messy look. Really love how that turned out.

I grabbed three color pop acrylic paints (Set 2 and 3) and added a thin layer over the gesso and bubble wrap stamps. You can still see the gesso and the stamped “images”. A few Flowers (Stamp & Dies “All the Good Things” Set 2) and a bird was used for decoration. I also added a little Label and the word “note” from the “All the Good Things Frames” pack – everything I’ve added to the Cover was glued and sealed with the Matte Acrylic Gel. I really love to use the Gel as an adhesive.

I also prepared my first Page with the Matte Acrylic Gel (Watercolor Paper Refill) because I wanted to add a lot of color and water. The color will not soak right into the paper and gives me time to complete or play around with more color/water. I picked five different colors from the Art Crayons (#2 cool) and scribbled them on a piece of plastic (Thickers packaging) and added a lot of water…

The next step is so easy, just flip the plastic (be careful when you have a lot of water on it) and press it on the paper. I really love how that works and that you can see the color “kissing” the paper. You can also change the image or help the paint by moving the plastic or with more pressure.

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Once everything was dry I sewed the pages together, now I have a pocket to fill.

I added some more Art Crayons with a big round Brush and a Stencil. This is a great technique for little details or just another layer of color. First you need to scribble some of the Art Crayon on a piece of plastic (this is included in the Brush Pack), then you pick up the paint from the Art Crayon with the Brush

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Place your stencil on the paper and now you will use the brush with circular movements and light pressure… the image will be smooth and light if you want to. But you can add as much color as needed or wanted. When you use the Brush with a touch of water the image will change a lot.

The last touches are some stamps and two butterflies from the Rub-Ons.

The divider was made with Gesso through a stencil, more kissing technique with the Art Crayons and a touch of Gold. I added some water to the Gold Glaze used for splattering and also painted some lines from the Stencil Image.

I really had fun getting this Album started, I can´t wait to get some more pages done. Check out my process Video HERE

February 09, 2018

Today is all about the Sweet Things with a gorgeous page by Nathalie that really features one of my new stamp sets!!! Take a look...

Hi there!

So glad to see you here! Today, I want to share with you all a new layout that celebrates all things girly from the “All The Good Things” collection.

This page started with a watercolor background created using the warm color Art Crayon set. First one of the foundation papers was prepped with some gesso. Then, the background was created by adding some diluted art crayons using some of the water brushes and a piece of acetate (just like in the popular “Packaging” technique). A few splatters of diluted Gold Glaze medium complete the background.

While the background dried completely, all the flower embellishment of the page were created by stamping the flower images (all 3 sizes of them) onto Foundations paper with Archival ink. The coordinating dies are a great and fast way to create individual images of the flowers. A bit of color was then added to the flowers using the same Art Crayon set from the background.

Once everything was dried properly, all the flowers and fussy cut stamped leaves were glued in clusters that framed the picture. A third cluster was then added to the top corner of the page (to complete a visual triangle).

Now it comes to embellishing the page using “All The Good Things” goodies. There was so much to choose from, but I kept it simple so that the background, flowers and picture shine harmoniously in the page. Just a few enamel dots, cardstock stickers, and a title created using a combination of both foam and alpha thickers. Did I forget to mention that the paper clip embellishments can easily become die cuts when you trim the bottom / paper clip part of them.

This page is filled with “All The Good Things” goodies, and I love it. To see how this page came together, just follow this link.

February 08, 2018

Mandy back with you today to share another layout featuring the fabulous Vicki Boutin mixed media products, and the ‘All the Good Things’ collection! I got to have a play with a couple of Vicki’s new products that she released at Creativation recently, and I LOVE them! Here’s the layout that I created…

On this layout, I documented a photo of my hubby Andrew and my son Isaac enjoying a dip in our little easy set pool that we set up in our backyard over the Summer. On this particular day we had temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius, and our air conditioner wasn’t working, so this was the best way to keep cool, and we actually had a really fun family day, despite the heat!

For this layout I wanted to create a mixed media background so that I could cut a large title out of it using my Cameo. I had a play with the VB art crayons, the acrylic paints, and one of Vicki’s new stencils, to create the background. Here’s a peek at my work in progress, before I cut the title out of it…

And here’s a look at the title that I cut from that background. I added some small pieces of foam tape underneath it to give it some extra dimension, and then I completed the title using one of the black foam word Thickers from the collection.

Next I wanted to create a fun background using Vicki’s new stamp set. I absolutely LOVE this stamp set – the circles are so fun!! I decided to play with the pigment inks (color wheel) in the warm tones to contrast with the cool colours that I had used for my title. I chose the red ink, and two different shades yellow to stamp the circles onto my background, and I love how this turned out! Once I had finished my stamping, I trimmed down my cardstock background and mounted it on the reverse side of the Soul Food patterned paper. Then I added a strip of the Shine Brightly (reverse side) patterned paper across the middle of the layout, which provided a base for my photo and title.

I used the Pretty Words (reverse side) patterned paper, as well as a frame from the die-cut frames pack, to add some layers behind my photo. This helped it really pop off the page! I also added one of the cute paper clips from the collection to the top right hand corner of the photo, and I tucked a tab from the sticker sheet underneath the right hand side of the photo.

Underneath the left hand side of the photo I tucked some leaves from the die-cut icons pack. There are so many gorgeous embellishments in this pack!

To finish the layout off I sprinkled some of the cute enamel dots around the page, and I added a few little stickers from both the watercolour sticker pack and the word stickers.

Thanks so much for joining me today! I have a process video for this layout up on my YouTube as well if you’d like to check it out…

February 07, 2018

Look at this beauty from Jana!! Love it! Great mix of paper and paint!

Hi everyone, Jana back again with a new fun Layout for you. This Layout is about my Middle One, he turned 13 last year, and he hates me for taking Pictures from him – but Selfies with me are fine! YAY! So, I wanted to create a Page with a lot of Flowers on it and also some “girly” colors. I started with a 12x12 sheet from the White Foundation Paper but I did not used any Gesso on it.

I used “Coral Macaroon” from the Acrylic Color Pop Paints (set 3) and added water to it so that I can handle the acrylic Color like a Watercolor, I also used a piece of plastic to get the color on the white Paper. Remember, I don´t have any Gesso on the Paper – the paint was still a bit thick for getting the look I wanted, so I just added more water – the paper did not curled up!! The Paper is just awesome, I totally love it! For my second Color I grabbed the Art Crayons (set 1 – warm) and scribbled it onto a piece of plastic, added water and smeared it on the background.

Once everything was dry I grabbed some Stamps (Dies and Clear Acrylic Stamps Set1), the Color Stamp Pads (set2) and added some tiny Hearts here and there over the Page.

The colors turned out great and I really love how they mixed together! Buuuuut, i needed a touch of black. The photo shows me and my son and we both have dark hair and I wanted to have the darkness (if that makes any sense to you) on the Background too. So I grabbed a black Art Crayon and some Bubble wrap and stamped it down. Some splatters in black and I was very happy with the outcome.

The Flowers in the Ephemera – Icons Pack are ALL awesome and I grabbed a lot of them for my Layering around my photo and papers. The stamped hearts had not the color I wanted so I covered them up with some tangled thread and flowers. You can always fix little problems by covering them up with bigger Elements or by adding more color.

I placed the big word Happy directly on my photo and love how that looks. On the Foam Thickers sheet are also some golden glitter hearts and they look great next to the flowers, right?

The last things i´ve added are the Finishing Embellishments, like Enamel Dots or Epoxy Dots. I really had fun with this Layout and I am REALLY in love with it.

February 06, 2018

Finally! This has been a long time coming! I have to say starting with the flu and then a relapse after the show has really put a wrench in all of my plans and good intentions! But...I am definitely feeling better and I am back to work. The first thing I want to do is share all of the exciting stuff from the Creativation 2018 Trade Show!!

This was my second time having a Vicki Boutin Mixed Media booth in Phoenix. My line debuted there last year with American Crafts. It is all still very exciting and I was so proud of how my AC team pulled all of the details together.

It all started with this sketch I drew up...

I sent it to my girl Melissa and after some input from my team, this was the result...

And finally, the real thing...

Wow, right!?! It just amazes me how talented the people are that I get to work with at American Crafts!!!! They take my visions and make them a reality!!! This fills my heart!!!

All the Good Things was proudly displayed in my booth along with a bunch of brand new items! These included- Rose Gold Glaze, new stencils, circle stamps, watercolour paints, stencil brush, pencil case and paint brushes on a card that fits in the Junque Journal! Guess what!?!?! There is a Vicki Boutin with We R 360 Rolling bag, shoulder bag and tote! Super excited about all of these items! I am going to post photos and ship dates later this week for all of these items!

In addition to an amazing booth, a great team and fabulous new products... are the people I get to meet and reconnect with. I wish I had more photos!!! Here are a whole bunch of memories I was able to capture...

It was a mind-blowing three days. Sad it went so fast!!! Please...if you were there...if we took a photo...send it to me! I want ALL of the memories!!! Thanks for stopping by or waving as you past. Thanks for watching all of the FB lives, YouTube videos and for your all around support!!!

January 25, 2018

Hey, Hey my crafty peeps! I am back from Creativation in Phoenix and I have a ton to share!! I plan on a big post tomorrow with a giveaway!! Yes...a GIVEAWAY!! And check out my YouTube. I will be adding a TON of videos this year! Posting one today, infact!!!!

But first...I need to introduce my third Design Team member...Nathalie Desousa!!!! She is FABULOUS and so is this layout she created using VB All the Good Things and Vicki Boutin Mixed Media!!! I am in LOVE with her painted background. Take a peek...

Hi there!

To say that I am excited to be sharing my first project as part of the Vicki Boutin’s Mixed Media Makers would be an understatement!!! Let me introduce myself, I am Nathalie (aka Tachita, my nickname since birth), a stay-at-home wife and mom of two teenagers and our Boston Terrier baby. Though we live in Toronto, Canada, I am from Ecuador and still have not lost my Spanish accent.

My love for scrapbooking started when I looked for ways to document and safe keep my kids memories. Once I discovered that I could combine art, photography and journaling in one page, I was hooked! But now let me show you what I created for my first post using Vicki’s “All The Good Things” collection:

I love color, so what better way to show it than by using a rainbow as a background for a layout. I started by adding gesso to one of the foundation papers. This ensures that the mediums flow nicely on the paper, and prevents the paper from buckling.

The acrylic paints are very pigmented, so a little bit goes a long way when applying them onto paper. Since I am using a cut file (from the Silhouette Store), I backed each of the letters of the title with papers from the 7x10 paper pad, and then matched the strokes and paint color to the letter and its size. To finish the painted look of the background, droplets of color were added by diluting the paint with water, and then sprinkling them on top of the paint strokes.

A bit of foam adhesive brings the title forward, and creates that soft shadow on the background. I chose to add a few embellishments around each one of the letters in the title. There are so many pieces to chose from, but my favorite are the watercolor stickers! Having the freedom to add the color of your choice to the stickers makes your project one-of-a-kind!

The picture documented in this page is our first family selfie of the year. A few pieces of the frames serve as layers behind the picture. But then let’s talk about the stickers from the “All Good Things” collection. Loved the sayings Vicki has added, and perfect to add the sentiment of this page. To finish the page, I simply added a few stamped sentiments on the paint strokes using matching colors of ink from the Color Wheels, and then a few lines of journaling.

I love the how easy it was to combine all the colors and embellishments to create what will be the first page of our 2018 album. To see a more in-depth look at how this page came together, check out my video HERE.